Choosing a Training Plan – aka: Mission Impossible

After signing up for my first two races, a 14km on the 11th of September and a 16km on the 3rd of October, I realized I really need to get my training plan sorted. However, that was easier said than done. Just for the fun of it, go to Google and search for “Half marathon training Plan”. You will get about 65,000 results. Of course there will be some double ups and some are not actually training plan, but is does give you an idea of how many training plans there are. And they are very different, too. Of course you could say “Just pick one” (as many of my friends did) but that is just not how I do things ;-). My way of doing this: read about 1,000 training plans (OK so I’m exaggerating a little, but I really did read A LOT), then analyze all the information, get frustrated because there are so many conflicting information, and then decide to just pick the first one I read :-) (I know, what a waste of time but I just couldn’t stop myself). But I have modified it a little bit based on everything else I’ve learnt so I guess all the reading was not completely wasted. I will tell you about my ‘personalized’ training plan in a few minutes, but I thought before I do that I outline why it was so difficult to find one (just for the fun of it).


1. Setting my goal
First of all you need to decide what your goal is for the race. Do you want to achieve a new personal best, finish in under 2 hours or just cross the finish line (alive) – my category. So that should have been the easy part as I knew from the beginning that my only goal would be to finish the half marathon. However, there is one little problem and that is called Harbor Bridge cut off. For those of you that don’t know Auckland, we have a Harbor Bridge similar to the famous one in Sydney. The half marathon starts on one side of the bridge and ends on the other, meaning you have to cross it. As it is the only real traffic connection between Auckland Downtown and the North Shore it can only be closed for the marathon for a very limited time. More specifically this means that everyone who hasn’t crossed the bridge by 9.20am will be moved in a bus and driven across the bridge and can continue running on the other side. Now, I might not be the most competitive person ever, but I do really want to run the whole thing. Besides, the Harbor Bridge is the absolute highlight of the Auckland Marathon so driving over it in a bus is not really an option. The middle of the Bridge is 13.5 km from the start. Start is at 7am but considering that the fastest people get to start first and slow people like me have to wait. So that means I probably won’t actually start till about 7.10-7.15. So I need to be able to run the first 14km in 2 hours. So I need to somehow incorporate that into my training plan.


2. Finding the right training level
This is where it gets surprisingly complicated. First I thought ‘this is easy, I’m a beginner’. But then I actually read some of the definitions of beginner and turns out a lot of training plans consider someone a beginner when they are able to run about an hour without problems (that makes me think some of the people that write these training plans should look up the definition of ‘beginner’. I mean seriously if I can run for an hour WITHOUT PROBLEMS how can I possibly be a BEGINNER?). Well anyway the conclusion here is that I’m not a beginner, so what am I and where do I find a training plan for that category? Well, as it turns out, there is a category called ‘Absolute Beginner’ and that is where I fit in :-). But it took me quite a while to figure that out.

3. Training by minutes or km?
I admit I was somewhat surprised when I saw that most training plans have you train by minutes instead of km. For me that doesn’t really make any sense. I mean everyone is doing a different pace, but come race day we all have to go the same distance. So shouldn’t someone who plans to run a marathon in let’s say 3hours have longer training runs than someone who plans to finish in 2 hours? Shouldn’t I be training by distance? Some training plans, even those for beginners, schedule their longest training runs at about 100-120 minutes. Given my current speed (and being optimistic that I will get faster during the training program) that would mean I run about 14-16km as my longest training. But that means I’m still 5-7km short of a half marathon. I think I should be running at least 18-19km once before the race just to have the confidence that I can go the distance. However, there must be a reason why the far majority of training plans is by minutes instead of km …

4. What, when, how often and for how long?
Another somewhat complicated question. Most ‘experts’ seem to agree that the minimum is 3 runs per week but after that it really just seems to be up to you and how much you want to do. Some plans have you run up to 6 times per week while other are just 3 runs per week. Most training plans also point out the importance of cross training. However, somewhat frustrating is that no plan really seems to incorporate that. Some have a ‘cross training’ day but they hardly ever specify what to do and for how long. I’ve read many times that strength training is also important for runners, but again, I haven’t found any training plan that really incorporates strength training. And here is the problem with it all: The people at that gym say I should do 3 circuit training (=strength training) session per week. Most training plans say I should run 3-4 time per week and have at least 1 cross training (biking, swimming, etc.) day. In addition everyone seems to agree you need at least 1 rest day per week. Well, too bad my week only has 7 days ;-)

Well, the good news is, there are some things everyone seems to agree one:

• I need to run at least 3 times per week
• I need at least one rest day
• I should be doing several shorter runs during the week and then 1 long one on the weekend
• I need to do some form of cross training
• Training weeks should generally be structured in a build – build – recover - build – build – recover- … rhythm. Meaning for two weeks I increase the distance of the long run and then I week I take it easy followed by two weeks increasing the distance and so on.
• I should be doing some hill training. But since this is Auckland you would have a hard time finding a run without any hills in it so that shouldn’t be a problem.

OK, so what I’ve done now is to take a training plan that includes all the aspects that everyone agrees on (which happes to be the first one I read) and then modified it a little bit to fit me. I chose this training plan because it schedules runs during the week in minutes but then the long ones on the weekend in km. Besides that it perfectly aligns with the 14km race I’ve signed up for on the 11th of September and the 16km one on the 3rd of October.

So here is what my average week will look like:

Monday: short – medium distance run (30-45min)*
Tuesday: Gym – 20-30min Strength Training
Wednesday: short – medium distance run (30-45min)*
Thursday: Gym - 20-30min Strength Training and a short run on the treadmill (25-30min)
Friday: REST DAY
Saturday: Long run
Sunday: Gym – 20-30min Strength Training and some cross training if I have time

*Monday and Wednesdays will be a bit interchangeable. If I do a longer one on Monday I do a shorter one on Wednesday. This will probably depend on things like weather, work commitments and my general mood. Also, closer to the even I will probably include a few 60-80 minutes runs during the week as well.

Saturdays will built up as follows

And if I survive all of this, without getting injured or begin taken away to that place for crazy people, I will be a half marathon runner by the end of October ;-)
OK, now I feel like I should apologies to those of you who have actually read this whole post. I know it’s kind of long and not really that fascinating and quite obviously I’m totally over thinking the whole thing. But hey, no one forces you to read my blog ;-)